“Peace Among the Peoples: Overcoming the Logic, Spirit and and Practice of Violence” is an ecumenical peace conference hosted by Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana July 28-31, 2010.  Inspired by the World Council of Churches’ Decade to Overcome Violence, the conference will bring together Christians of many persuasions in a focus on contemporary North American responses to war and violence. 

Canada's War Resisters Support Campaign recently announced that Bill C-440 will receive second reading on May 25, 2010.  Bill C-440 is a private member’s bill moved by MP Gerard Kennedy and seconded by MP Bill Siksay.  If the bill eventually passes 3rd reading and becomes law, it would allow U.S. war resisters to remain in Canada and to apply for permanent residency.

– by Rami Elhanan on the eve of Alternative Remembrance Day of Fighter Combatants for Peace.

Shalom and good evening.

My name is Rami Elhanan. Thirteen years ago, on the afternoon of Thursday the fourth of September 1997, I lost my daughter, my Smadar, in a suicide attack on Ben-Yehuda street in Jerusalem. A beautiful sweet joyous 14 year old girl. My Smadar was the granddaughter of the militants for peace, General (Ret.) Matti Peled, one of those who made the breakthrough to Israeli-Palestinian dialogue. And she was murdered because we were not wise enough to preserve her safety in Matti’s way, the only correct and possible way – the way of peace and reconciliation.

Floradale Mennonite Church (Ontario) will present "Those Peace Shoes" a play/dinner theatre production about a sister and brother who act for peace in different ways, from April 9 - 11.

The congregation will used the event as a fundraiser to help settle a Palestinian refugee family in the Kitchener-Waterloo area.

"Christians who want less bang from their tax bucks are protesting Canada's military spending by withholding a portion of their taxes this year" says a ChristianWeek story today by Josiah Neufeld.

Check out the full story.

CALGARY - In the wake of violent demonstrations in previous years on March 21, the International Day for the Elimination of Racism, Calgary church leaders are calling for peaceful responses to the rise in white supremacist activity in the city. The Joint Statement of the Calgary Mennonite Churches Concerning White Supremacist Activity in Calgary  issued today calls on Calgarians to “reject publicly and completely the doctrine of racial supremacy and hate” while affirming a belief in non-violence on both the part of white supremacists and anti-racist protestors.

Gene Stoltzfus, founder of Christian Peacemaker Teams, died yesterday, March 11, 2010. He was director from it's founding in 1988 to 2004. Stoltzfus was born in 1940.

For more details, visit the Christian Peacemaker Teams web site.

"The first step for world peace is for people to meet each other," says Jehane Noujaim, film maker and photographer with degrees in visual arts and philosophy

Her 2004 film documentary Control Room, tells the story of Al Jazeera and its relations with the US Central Command (CENTCOM), as well as the other news organizations that covered the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Al Jazeera was accused of spreading American propaganda in the East, and being a proponent of terrorism in the West. Her web site states, "The military. The media. The war in Iraq. Who is making history?"

Noujaim tells the story of her efforts at testing and learning about peace on TED.

"A parent told the Salvation Army bell ringer how important he was and thanked him." That's Act of Compassion #768 on the Charter for Compassion web site.

The Charter is the brainchild of Karen Armstrong. Though still a young project, the charter has garnered over 40,000 signatories. The Charter is based on the Golden Rule - an ideal upheld by people of many faiths and people of no faith. The web site also documents people's Acts of Compassion, now approaching 1,000 postings.

Will the Charter result in an meaningful social change? "The doctrines and stories of faith make no sense at all unless they are translated into action," Armstrong told interviewer Nathan Schneider on The Immanent Frame blog. "In Australia, our partners are going to launch the Charter in Parliament and are currently working to get it included in the educational curriculum," cited Armstrong, along with other concrete examples.

"It is no use urging other people to be compassionate if we do not practice it ourselves," she told Schnieder.

Is forgiveness necessary to attain peace? The folks who run the Forgiveness Project believe it is. According to their web site, "The Forgiveness Project works at a local, national and international level to help build a future free of conflict and violence by healing the wounds of the past."

Norm Kember, a member of Christian Peacemaker Teams, writes about forgiveness from his perspective as one of four hostages taken during the war in Iraq in 2005. Fellow hostage, Tom Fox, was murdered, while Kember and two others survived. Kember reflects the irony of being rescued by British military forces.

In 1991, Michael Watson collapsed at the end of a world championship boxing match. He spent 40 days in a coma, emerging partially paralyzed from a blood clot in his brain.  In 2002, his opponent, Chris Eubank, accompanied Watson on the final leg of the London Marathon - a race that took Watson six days to complete.

The Forgiveness Project collects stories from ordinary people who have experienced extraordinary hurt - but have found the courage and compassion to forgive. Some are people faith, many are not. Some have suffered deep personal losses: the murders of family members, others beatings and assaults. Seom are convicted criminals who have faced their victims. Each one has a unique and moving story to share.